Moon Shine (Takhini Wolves)

by Vivian Arend

  She tilted her head to indicate the hallway. He followed her, mentally rearranging his plan of attack so that he could get through the evening without pissing her off again.

  He was smart. He was strong. He should be able to be suave and debonair for a couple more hours, especially when impressing his mate was on the line.

  Only he did miss his comfy chair and the game that was going on back at the pack house. But if this was what it took to bring him and Amy back on track, he’d make the sacrifice.

  Amy’s headache had a headache. They were finally seated in the auditorium, and for the next forty-five minutes there should be no necessity to put out any fires or sit on Evan to stop him from offending anyone.

  Up on the stage the string quartet was already into the second movement, and the peaceful sounds flooded the room. Perfect acoustics carried the gentle performance of a soothing melody.

  Her soul needed a whole lot of soothing. At her side Evan slumped, totally relaxed with his hips forward on the seat, his upper body set against the chair back. His knees were wide apart, his entire muscular body seemingly too large for the delicate auditorium chairs.

  He’d dressed up, and she had no complaints about the external packaging. In fact, everywhere they had gone, people’s gazes had followed them as if he were a highly sought-after model. Whispered conversations from those in the room who were visiting made it clear they were all intrigued by the handsome stranger on her arm.

  But the chip on his shoulder seemed to get bigger by the second. She had no issues with his job choices—owning the bar and hotel. Both were good solid positions and perfectly suited for his role in leading a wolf pack. Bringing him to the symphony hadn’t been about making him feel inadequate.

  His defensive responses every single time someone questioned him had gone from bad to worse. He didn’t seem to get the concept that if the person didn’t matter, their opinion didn’t matter either.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. By the time the performance was over, she hoped Evan would have settled down enough she could take him for a brief meeting with Giorgio. They could escape before tensions rose again.

  A few others of her pack were scattered through the auditorium. Laney had smiled hesitantly at Evan when they’d met, but the rest stayed away.

  Joining the packs was going to take a lot more finesse and planning than even she had expected.

  The music swelled, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to soak in as much relaxation as possible. The biggest thing she could sense, though, was the man at her side. The scent of him filled her nostrils, his presence borderline overwhelming. She wanted him so badly, and she hated that she wanted him when he didn’t seem to care about her in the same way.

  Their knees bumped, and she jerked away from the electric connection between them that remained as strong as ever. He reached over, and for a second she thought he was going to take her hand. She was already opening her fingers to accept his touch, kicking herself for wanting it. Craving contact with her mate desperately.

  Evan ignored her fingers, and instead pulled the program from where she’d tucked it beside her hip.

  He stared intently at the small brochure while she fought to get her pounding heart under control.

  A set of lights on the right side of the room clicked on, the unexpected brightness drawing everyone’s attention. An usher rushed forward, slipping out the side door. A moment later, everything was restored to normal.

  Until a flash struck on the left as lights clicked on there. The musicians didn’t falter, but the audience was distracted as, one after the other, banks of lights all over the auditorium flashed on and were hurriedly turned off.

  A low beeping sound began. This time the base cellist turned her head toward the side of the stage.

  An Energizer Bunny toy appeared, its little furry arms pounding in steady repetition on an oversized drum, the turning wheels of the toy bringing it toward where the quartet was seated.

  A murmur rose, and fingers pointed toward the stage. At her side Evan was no longer in a relaxed slouch but seated upright, raptly watching the action. She thought a low curse rose from his lips.

  Suddenly, from behind the curtain and the sides of the stage, more toys appeared. A wild assortment this time, not just bunnies, but leaping frogs and mooing cows. Battery-operated devices of every kind poured onto the platform with a whirling pandemonium of noise and disorder.

  The performers gave up all attempts at continuing, the final notes dying off into a melodic dissonance that mixed in a strange way with the clattering toys.

  She had never seen such a thing before in her life.

  Evan had his head cradled in his hand. Amy dropped an arm around him in concern. “Are you okay?”

  He cleared his throat. “I think we should leave.”

  There wasn’t much reason to stay. Everywhere around them, people were abandoning their seats and heading back to the foyer. Up on the stage, one of the performers had retreated to the top of her chair as hundreds of wind-up and battery-operated toys milled around them, the volume increasing all the time.

  Amy pointed to a side exit. “We can get out that way.”

  Evan caught her by the hand as they briefly fought people moving in the opposite direction. They pushed through the door, and Evan jerked her to a stop.

  At least a dozen wolves were waiting, huge grins on their faces, all of them Takhini.

  Understanding hit, and this time Amy was the one who swore. She pushed past Evan. “You’re responsible for this?”

  Lance sneered at her.

  She was going to rip him apart.

  Before she could take a swing, though, Evan had come between her and her target. “I don’t know why you thought this was a good idea, but it wasn’t. Get your asses back to the Takhini pack house. I’ll deal with you there.”

  Evan continued to block her path, and before she could get past him, the group had vanished as silently as they had come in the first place.

  “Those little shits. What the hell did they think they were doing?” Amy was a second away from punching a wall since she couldn’t punch the miscreants.

  “They probably thought they were being entertaining.” Evan dragged a hand through his hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with them.”

  She was furious again, but maybe this was the final straw needed to make Evan see reason. “Let me come to the Takhini pack house with you, and we’ll deal with them. That will help with this whole joining-the-packs issue. You and me, working together. Facing their concerns as a team.”

  He shook his head. “They’re just feeling their oats. I’m sure they thought it was funny.”

  “It wasn’t funny.”

  Evan wrinkled his nose. “Well, it kinda was, if you think about it. I mean it was wrong of them, and I will totally rake them over the coals for it, but you have to admit it was rather hysterical when that first bunny showed up.”

  This was a perfect example of what she’d talked about earlier. Another of those moments where it wasn’t worth making her point because he obviously wasn’t on the same page as her. Amy jerked past him, not even caring if he followed her or not. “Fine. Do it your way. But if they try something like that again, I will have something to say about it.”

  “Of course you will, and rightly so,” Evan soothed her. “Let me drive you home.”

  She already had her hands on the exit-door release. “Don’t bother. I’ll get a cab. You have some brats waiting for you at home to discipline.”

  “Will I see you tomorrow?” Evan asked.

  Slamming the door was the only answer she gave him.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The morning after the symphony had been disrupted, Amy’s staff looked far too amused. She hesitated before heading up to her office. “Do I want to know?”

  Tom and Caden exc
hanged glances before shaking their heads.

  Which only meant she had to know. “Okay. Tell me.”

  They pushed a printout toward her. She picked it up to read an energy bill.

  “What’s this?” She rapidly scanned the page until she spotted something out of the norm. “Damn. You guys are a bunch of turkeys.”

  Tom shrugged. “An eye for an eye. We didn’t do anything to the Takhini pack members who weren’t involved. Just the select group who need to learn a few manners.”

  Amy shook her head. “It’s not funny, and I don’t want you to do anything like this again, do you hear me?”

  “Is that a direct order?” Caden asked.

  “Do I have to make it one?” Amy watched them for a moment, and when they slunk away, she left it.

  She’d barely sat down when her phone rang. “Hi, Evan.”

  He was in a vile mood. “I thought you promised you were done messing with my finances.”

  “Don’t look at me this time. Couple of my pack decided to be smart-asses. What happened to you?” She paused for a moment, confused. “Hang on, they did something to you? That doesn’t make sense. They told me they only went after the jerks who screwed up last night.”

  “Well, it looks as if they’re blaming me as well. Some of the pack have bills from the electric department for three months’ back payments. Others got shipments of rabbit traps delivered to their door COD this morning.”

  “And yours?”

  Evan sighed. “My cell phone bill just got delivered. It’s for over thirty-two thousand dollars.”

  Poetic justice in a way. “They seem to be making the punishment fit the crime.”

  There was silence for a moment before Evan spoke. “Okay, I get the electric bill and the bunny traps, but why my cell phone?”

  “As head of the pranksters, they probably figured you should be in better communication with them.”

  A low growl came over the phone, and not the one that made her heart rate pick up. This one was sheer annoyance. “What are you going to do about it?”

  That was polite. Not. “I’ve already spoken to them.”

  “I mean, can they get the charges reversed? I’m going to spend all day on the phone with customer service trying get this straightened out.”

  “Poor baby.” Her snarky response snuck out before she could help herself.

  “Amy. It’s not funny.”

  Vengeance was sweet. “I don’t know. It’s actually kind of funny, if you think about it. I mean, I can just imagine what your face must have looked like when you opened that bill.”

  He must have accidentally dropped the phone, the clatter in her ear extremely loud.

  Things just went downhill from there.

  It started slowly, the internal rebellions. Retaliation for one act was followed by another. Both she and Evan spoke to their packs, but it seemed there was no way to make them see reason. Everyone took what had begun as a childish prank personally, and in some ways Amy couldn’t blame them.

  For the first time Takhini and Canyon were in the middle of a huge change, and yet at every turn Evan blocked her suggestion that they work together. It wasn’t like him, not from what she had observed over the past year, but his leadership style had changed completely.

  It seemed Takhini and Canyon had declared war.

  Takhini egged her house.

  Canyon somehow figured out which pack members had been involved and wrapped their cars with three layers of egg cartons and chicken wire.

  Takhini sent invitations to participate in the next Iditarod—as sled pullers—to all the Canyon pack.

  Canyon sent flea collars to everyone.

  Harmless pranks for the most part, but all of them annoying and disruptive. And yet every time Amy offered to come and talk to the Takhini pack with him, Evan turned her down. She felt as if her hands were tied. Between the once-again-denied mating urge and the continued chaos in the packs, frustration was her constant companion.

  If only Evan would come and ask her to work with him, but it seemed that was beyond the level of trust he was willing to show. All she could do was hold on and attempt to keep order over wolves who were increasingly hard to control.

  Nearly a week later her phone woke her. Amy picked it up, still groggy from a poor night’s sleep. “What?”

  “Damn vandals, and I bet anything I know exactly who the damn vandals are. Anyway, they took all four of my tires last night,” Tom complained. “Sorry, I’m going to be a little late to work.”

  “No problem. Get there when you can.”

  The third time the phone rang in the next five minutes with one of her pack letting her know they’d had a theft, Amy knew Tom was right, Takhini had hit again. She walked past her front window on the way to the kitchen for some extra-strong coffee, and froze in place.

  Her entire old front yard was filled with tires. They’d been stacked like rubber Inuksuk, their torsos made of black circles, winter treads extending out as arms. Shiny hubcaps balanced on top as heads.

  Her lips twitched, and she snorted briefly with amusement before getting on the phone to let her pack know where they could find their tires. Inside, though, the icy sadness only grew.

  It was just after lunch when Evan stomped his way to the couch in the pack house where Shaun and Gem were talking with Justin. “I’m going to kill them,” he declared.

  “Are you giving me a heads up so I can gather bail money again?” Justin asked.

  “Very funny. I don’t mean literally kill them.” Evan paused. “Although, it’s tempting.”

  “What’s the latest?” Shaun asked.

  “As if you don’t know.” Evan narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure you’re not encouraging the brats?”

  “Dude. Of course not. I want the little shits to start behaving themselves as well. Okay, it was funny when they toilet-papered the Canyon pack houses.”

  Gem shook her head. “It wasn’t so funny when Canyon arranged to have fresh manure spread on the lawns of the troublemakers.”

  “They’re going to be the envy of all their neighbours come next spring,” Justin pointed out, a huge grin spreading across his big bear face.

  Evan offered him a death glare. “You’re enjoying this far too much.”

  Justin shrugged. “There’s no bloodshed in the streets, so yes, it is rather amusing.”

  “But it needs to stop, and soon.” Gem looked as worried as Evan felt. “So far it has all been fairly innocuous and safe, but what happens when it goes beyond that? And there’s the other trouble with the pranks. I thought the goal was to join the packs. This isn’t helping. If anything it’s forcing them farther apart.”

  She had a point.

  Shaun obviously agreed. “Toby and Lance cornered me yesterday. I swear they were sounding out if I was still supportive of you staying in power.”

  This was a kind of chaos Evan had never expected. “I need to talk to you, right now.”

  Shaun kissed Gem, gave Justin a finger wave then followed Evan into a more private part of the pack house. “What’s up?”

  Evan leaned against the wall and stared at his Beta. “What am I doing wrong?”

  He expected nothing but the truth. That was why he had brought Shaun on as a Beta in the first place, but what he got was unexpected.

  “You’re not yourself.” Shaun paced a few steps away before turning back, his face serious for the first time in…well, maybe in forever. “You’ve always been someone I’ve admired. I’ve lived a lot of places in the North, and we wolves tend to be a wild and hairy bunch. You’ve never been so full of yourself as an Alpha that your attitude pissed me off.”

  Evan nodded. “Go on.”

  “In fact, I might have to admit to a bit of hero worship when it comes to you. You care, but you do it in such an irreverent and casual way it f
its this pack, and it fits me.”

  “You sound like a cheering section, and I know damn well something’s wrong. Just give it to me straight.”

  Shaun smirked. “This is called a shit sandwich. That was the good part, here comes the crap. Ever since you met Amy, you’ve changed. I understand that whole unfinished-mate business is making you crazy, but it seems as if you’re not interested in the pack anymore.”

  “Bullshit. You know the pack is important to me.”

  “Then why aren’t you leading? Toby and Lance are doing more than pulling pranks now. They’re eyeing your position, and mine, and if you don’t get your ass in gear, we’re going to be fighting for more than control. We’ll be fighting for our lives.”

  The words might be logical, but they still didn’t seem to register.

  “It’s like…” Anger and confusion mixed as Evan spoke. “It’s like I’ve lost a piece of myself. Ever since I sniffed Amy, I can’t concentrate. I can’t figure out the right thing to do because every time I head in one direction, I’m tugged in another. It’s so damn infuriating. You’re right, this isn’t me, and I know that, and that’s another layer on top of the rest of the bullshit.”

  Evan scrubbed his hands over his face. It wasn’t just meeting Amy. It was being reminded of the situation at Hudson Bay. Since that had been tossed in his face, he doubted all his decisions.

  Back then he’d been pushed, hard, and Philip had paid with his life. Was he reacting to that mistake and choosing not to decide? It was fucked up and crazy-making, but it might be an explanation.

  “If I could just move on and forget her altogether, I wonder if I would choose that.”

  Shaun didn’t say anything. Just stood there and looked supportive. Shocked and cranky, but supportive.

  “But the last thing I want is to give her up,” Evan growled. “She’s the missing part of me, but I can’t seem to make us fit. She’s a round peg and I’m a square hole, and all we do is keep butting into each other and never coming to any solution.”